Clay Co., KS AHGP-Portrait and Biographical Album of Washington, Clay and Riley Counties-Thomas Robertson
Portrait and Biographical Album of Washington, Clay and Riley Counties Chapman Brothers, Chicago, 1890
THOMAS ROBERTSON. The Kansas pioneer of 1873 found little to encourage him in the attempt of building up a homestead from the uncultivated soil. Especially in the northern townships was the outlook anything but cheerful. Over the wild, stretch of country, deer, antelope and other animals were to be seen in abundance, together with wild turkeys, prairie chickens, etc. It needed no small amount of courage to make a settlement under these circumstances, but among the men who had resolved to subdue a portion of the soil of Northern Kansas was Mr. Robertson. who, in the spring of 1873, coming into Clay County
homesteaded 160 acres of land on sections 25 and 26, Bloom Township. His next business was to put up a dwelling, which consisted of a one-room house, 12x14 feet in dimensions and his next was to prepare a portion of the ground for cultivation. His neighbors were few and far between and lived chiefly in dugouts. The pleasant flourishing city of Clay Center, twelve miles distant, consisted then of one mill and a general store, and to this place at the close of the season he conveyed his marketable produce, making the journey in a laborious manner with a team. His sole companion was his brother Robert, and the two being unmarried lived main years together. Robert later settled on a farm adjoining and died Jan. 5, 1889.
The subject of this sketch was born on the other side of the Atlantic, in Burwickshire, Scotland, Sept. 10, 1847. His father was a tanner and Thomas spent his early years under the home roof, receiving a district-school education. John Robertson and his wife, who in her girlhood was May Nesbitt, were likewise natives of Scotland and members of the Presbyterian Church, in the faith of which they reared their family of nine children of whom Thomas was the seventh. In that faith the mother died after having spent her entire life on her native soil. John Robertson, who died in Illinois, for many years officiated as an Elder in his church and was an honest, straightforward man who enjoyed the respect of his community.
The subject of this sketch lived in his native shire until the spring of 1864, then set sail from the city of Glasgow on the combined sailing and steamship "Caledonia." which landed him in New York City fourteen days later. Thence he repaired to Washington County, Ill., where he farmed on rented land four years. From these he went across the Mississippi into Pettis County, Mo., where he was employed as a farm laborer another four years and we next find him in Northern Kansas looking around for a homestead claim and soon settling where he has since remained.
Mr. Robertson landed in Illinois with a capital of $5 in his pocket. He has now besides the farm already mentioned, eighty acres in the same township, well improved, and two and one-half acres of valuable land in Clay Center, which is rented to a gardener. He carries on farming in a general way and has been uniformly successful. He is still unmarried and after becoming tired of keeping bachelor's hall, took up his abode in Morganville, making his home with his brother Daniel, who lias been a resident there a number of years.
Mr. Robertson was accompanied to America by four brothers and his father. One of the brothers, John, is a resident of Missouri, and the others live in Kansas. One sister remains in her native Scotland.